Discussion evening

Front against the Fernpass tunnel continues to grow

The community hall was filled to capacity.

(Bild: Initiative Lebensraum Gurgltal)

Fritz Gurgiser supports the Lebensraum Gurgltal initiative in the fight against the expansion plans for the Fernpass. 400 visitors attended the discussion evening on Thursday, 300 more attended online.

"It is legally legitimate for Governor Anton Mattle to only negotiate with the mayors. But he won't win the hearts of the people that way!" This statement by Fritz Gurgiser in the Nassereither community hall on Thursday evening sticks. The Lebensraum Gurgltal initiative led by Ludwig Gruber had invited Austria's top transit fighter to give a talk in the Oberland. The hut was packed, and there were also 300 participants online.

The topic was the Fernpass expansion plans with the Scheiteltunnel centerpiece and the two-lane expansion of the Lermoos tunnel. The Scheiteltunnel is to be tolled in order to subsequently finance the "Lermooser". Resistance in the affected regions is growing, as it is feared that the 7.5-tonne limit on the Fernpass will also fall along with the tunnels.

"With six million journeys, we already have too much traffic and too many days of congestion. Our mobility and, above all, the regional economy are being massively hampered," complains Ludwig Gruber. He is certain that the long-distance pass package would exacerbate the situation. "We will fight against it." To this end, the citizens' initiative was founded, to which Fritz Gurgiser had now been invited.

Fritz Gurgiser from the Transit Forum

(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

"Expansion program is an acceleration package"
"The current expansion program is an acceleration package and is intended to make the entire route even more attractive. Especially in view of the fact that the decades-long renovations of the A13 and A22 Brenner highway bridges to the north and south are expected to result in significant restrictions on truck traffic. That is why it is so important to act with a legally secured and predetermined overall package and not to agree to be increasingly reliant on bans in the future," explained Gurgiser to rapturous applause.

In the same way, it is and remains an empty promise that the 7.5-ton limit will hold - Tyrolean and Austrian legal history sufficiently shows that even "laws of the century" backed by good legal opinions are not upheld by experts and politicians, but are decided by the courts.

The requirement is to reduce the burden now with all available means and not to increase it any further.

Fritz Gurgiser, Transitforum

"The Fernpass jug is overflowing"
Gurgiser's conclusion: "The long-distance pass jug has been overflowing for years and the aim is to reduce the burden now with all available means and not to increase it any further. I think this was also very well understood by the ladies and gentlemen from the local councils present - anyone who thinks they can buy off the mayors with examinations, feasibility studies and other promises can of course do so. But one thing is already clear: people's eyes, ears and mouths cannot be glued shut with a few cents a day. That time is over!"